The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of evergreen Rhododendron, botanically known as Rhododendron minus carolinianum.times.dauricum sempervirens and hereinafter referred to by the name `Amy Cotta`.
The new Rhododendron is a naturally-occurring mutation of the Rhododendron minus caroliniarum.times.Dauricum sempervirens cultivar PJM (not patented). The new Rhododendron was discovered and selected by the inventor as a single plant within a large population of plants of the parent cultivar, the Rhododendron minus carolinianum.times.dauricum sempervirens cultivar PJM, in a controlled environment in Portsmouth, R.I., in 1982. The selection of this plant was based on its smaller leaf size, denser growth habit and slower growth rate.
Asexual reproduction of the new Rhododendron by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Portsmouth, R.I., has shown that the unique features of this new Rhododendron are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.